Category: Maintenance

Maintenance

Customise your family tree chart

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Customising your family tree chart can help your research planning and improve the way that you communicate the results of your research.

There are many ways to customise your family tree chart. This article uses Legacy Family Tree software and Ancestry family tree charts to demonstrate the main techniques.

Set your direct line on your family tree chart

What is your direct line?

Your direct line is your direct ancestors, such as your parents, grandparents, great grandparents and so on. Your direct line does not include siblings or family who are related to you via siblings. It also does not include any step family.

Strictly speaking, you have more than one direct line as you have two parents. However, it is usually referred to in the singular.

It is your choice whether you choose to include non-biological relationships in this definition. For example, if someone was adopted they could have a direct biological line and a direct adopted line.

Benefits of marking your direct line

When researching, it is useful if you can instantly tell which people in your family tree chart are on your direct line. This makes it easier to navigate up and down your line, and focus your research when necessary.

In a Legacy family tree chart you can mark the entire direct line in one step by selecting the starting individual (usually yourself) and then choosing ‘Set Direct Line’ from the Tools tab. Legacy marks the names of people in your direct line in bold typeface.

Note that this only marks one direct line, so if you do have adoptions in the family you need to choose which line to mark.

In an Ancestry family tree chart, you set the direct line by marking each individual manually using a ‘tree tag’. The direct line tag is called ‘Direct Ancestor’ and it is under the group called ‘Relationship tags’.

list of relationship tags available on Ancestry.com for family trees

How are people in your family tree chart related to you?

Knowing how someone is related to you is another useful bit of information as you work on your family tree chart.

Ancestry adds that information automatically to individuals as you add them. With Legacy, you can switch it on by choosing ‘Set Relationships’ from the Tools tab.

Divide people in your family tree chart into your grandparent lines

Dividing your people in your family tree chart into groups based on your four grandparents is a great research tool. It helps with navigation, research planning, filing and sharing information with others.

Legacy uses the four-colour scheme and it can be applied by choosing ‘Set Ancestor Colours’ from the Tools tab. This adds a small block of colour on the individual’s screen and colour codes the box for each person in the pedigree chart. The colours can also be applied to a printed family tree chart such as the one below.

Ancestry does not have a specific system to group your family by grandparent. However, you could create four custom Tree Tags for this purpose.

Example of a fan chart format family tree

Identify research groups in your family tree chart

You may find it useful to create customised groups of your family members for research purposes, based on common characteristics or common research questions.

Examples of research groups:

  • convicts
  • everyone who migrated to Australia
  • people born in Ireland
  • parents not yet identified.

Legacy has both two systems of tagging custom groups. The tag system uses the numbers 1-9 which appear at the top of the individual’s screen. The hashtag system allows a seemingly limitless list of tags.

Ancestry has ‘MyTreeTags’ under the categories of DNA, life experience, relationship and research status, and you can also create custom tags. The tags appear below the person’s name on their screen.

Both Legacy and Ancestry allow you to search your family tree chart for everyone containing a particular tag and create a list. Legacy also allows you to print the list in PDF format or a CSV file. The latter is great for research planning, as the file can be opened and modified in Excel.

Note the status of research in your family tree chart

Noting the status of research on individual profiles in your family tree may help make your research more manageable. It can also help you focus on those individuals who need to be prioritised to progress your research.

Ancestry tree tags have the following pre-set tags: actively researching, brick wall, complete, hypothesis, unverified, verified.

Legacy does not have a specific system to note the status of research. You could use the tags or the To Do List for this purpose.

Even if you do not want to use most of these tags, the unverified tag could be extremely useful because it draws attention to the inconclusive nature of the information which affects the accuracy of your family tree.

Record DNA conclusions on your family tree chart

It is important to establish a system for recording DNA conclusions and both Legacy and Ancestry have tools to assist this process.

More information

For more of my articles on documenting your family history, go to the Document page.

For more of my articles and information about using DNA in family history, head to my DNA in family history page.

Post last updated 17 June 2024

Advice, Maintenance

5 tips to protect your online privacy in family history

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Sharing your family history online has significant benefits for your research but it also has implications for privacy in family history. Here are my five top tips for protecting your online privacy while researching family history.

Check privacy and data sharing policies

Always examine the privacy and data sharing policies of any websites or online services if you are providing them with personal information.

Collecting personal information and sharing it with third parties is very common on the web, not just with genealogy and DNA companies. By using their services you often agree to tracking cookies and having your information passed on for the purposes of targeted advertising.

Before you agree, just be sure that you are comfortable with their terms and conditions.

Typical clause in a Privacy Statement

Use strong passwords to protect privacy in family history

Yes, you’ve heard this advice before but it is worth repeating.

Use strong passwords. Don’t use the same ones on different sites. Change them periodically. Don’t use your mother’s maiden name – after all, you have probably shared that information in your family tree!

The definition of a strong password may vary between websites, but as it usually uses:

  • at least 8 characters (the more the better)
  • a mixture of upper and lower case
  • a mixture of letters and numbers
  • at least one special character, e.g. %#*

Email addresses may not be privatised

It is safest to assume that your email address will become public or be shared.

It is probably best if you don’t use your main email address or the email address that you use on social media.

You might consider creating a separate email address just for family history. If you want anonymity, avoid any part of your own name in that email address. It is also a good idea to avoid including your year of birth or your mother’s maiden name.

Using inbuilt messaging systems instead of email are a good idea, if they are available.

Protecting the privacy of living people

It is good practice to protect the privacy of living people when sharing family history information online, especially if you do not have explicit permission to share their information publicly.

Many online websites used by genealogists have guidelines and systems that automate this. If you create your own family history website, such as a blog, you will need to do this manually.

On Ancestry, for example, all living people are private. If no death information is provided, people under 100 years old are considered to be living.

You should not publish information or photographs of living people without their permission. This includes posting on a website or in social media.

Consider carefully what information you share on social media about you and your family.

Adjust privacy settings

Learn how to adjust the privacy settings of any online website where you post information. Consider what information you are willing to share and adjust the settings to suit you.

Here are three examples

On Ancestry, you can choose to have your family tree public or private. If you make your tree private, no one can see your tree unless you invite them to view it. Private Ancestry trees will still appear in Ancestry search results, unless you prevent them from appearing.

Extract from the Privacy Settings in an Ancestry family tree

On Wikitree, the profile manager sets the Privacy level for the profile. What others can see and do depends on that Privacy Level.

List of Wikitree privacy settings for profiles of individuals on the family tree
Wikitree privacy settings for profiles of individuals on the family tree

Blogging platforms, such as WordPress and Blogger, allow you to restrict access to your website, or to specific posts, by using a password. If you want to limit who you share your family history with, this might be an option that suits you.

More information

For more of my articles on documenting your family history, go to the Document page.

Post last updated 17 June 2024

Maintenance

Your family origins

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Knowing your ethnicity and where your ancestors came from is more than just an advertising gimmick for DNA testing companies. It is vital context for your family history research. If you know where your ancestors came from, then you know where to search for documents that might contain information about them. And if you know when they arrived in the country where you live now, you know when to start looking for documents there.

old style sailing ship
Photo by Jamie Morrison on unsplash

Here are some suggestions of ways that you can take stock of your ancestral origins and their arrival dates.

Ethnicity results

If you have had your DNA tested, check what your ethnicity results tell you. They can only give you a broad picture of your origins, but they may still provide an insight. My DNA results confirmed what I knew about my Chinese, English, Scottish and European origins but the one third Irish was a surprise because, as far as I knew, the only Irish I had was about four generations back. Since then I have discovered that my father was adopted and his birth mother was Irish. Ethnicity results can support your documentary research, or suggest research leads to explore.

Shipping records

Australian genealogists are lucky to live on an island continent. All of our ancestors, with the exception of any indigenous ancestors, had to arrive here on ships or planes which usually recorded their arrival. The date of arrival and their country of origin from shipping or air travel records are a vital piece of information. You can record these in a spreadsheet.

spreadsheet listing relatives, the country they came from, arrival date and name of ship

Another handy research tool is a table or chart showing the surnames in your family tree and their country of origin.

spreadsheet listing locations and names of relatives from those locations

Maps are also useful. In a recent webinar about Irish ancestry we were discussing which parts of Ireland our ancestors came from and I drew up this map. It is just a rough map, made by pasting an outline map into Microsoft Paint and adding colours, but it does the job. Maps like this give you a good indication not just of the locations where you need to look for records, but also the time periods and historical events that may have impacted on your family.

map of the counties of Ireland with some coloured yellow, green, blue or orange

If you use family history software, you can also print out a location report or create a tailored report using the search functions.

Extract from search tool in Legacy family tree software

More information

For more of my articles about research methods for family history, go to the Research Methods page.

For my articles about using Excel for family history, go to the Using Excel page.

Post last updated 5 June 2024

Maintenance

Managing vital records

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Vital records of events such as birth, marriage, divorce and death are essential to demonstrate who is in your family and the relationships between them. Depending on the time period and location, vital records may include church records such as baptisms, marriages and burials; and civil records such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, divorce records, wills and probate documents.

extract of a birth certificate, handwritten, from 1878

Since these records are so essential in family history, we need to take steps to organise and file them. We also need to keep track of which ones we have obtained and plan on which ones we need next.

Step 1:

Review your documentation and determine which vital records you already have for each person in your family tree, or for each person in family groups on your direct line.

Step 2:

If you use family history software, scan the records and upload them as media to the relevant person(s). If you have a paper based system, place a printed copy in the folder of the relevant person(s). Keeping vital records with other records and information about a person makes further research much easier.

Extract from Legacy Family Tree software showing copies of birth and death certificates attached to a person

Step 3:

Create a centralised master list of vital records, or update it if you already have one. A master list helps you keep track of which records you have already obtained and which you still need to obtain. This list can help you prioritise which ones you want to purchase next and reduce the likelihood that you will accidentally purchase records that you already have.

Read my article about Using Excel to track birth death and marriage records.

Step 4:

Update your research plans by adding tasks of obtaining the vital records you are still missing.

Step 5:

Consider donating a copy of your vital records to your family history society to assist other researchers.

More information

For more of my articles about organising your family history, go to the Organise page.

For my articles about planning your family history, go to the Plan page.

Post last updated 5 June 2024

Maintenance

What will happen to your family history after you die?

generationsgenealogyaus

It’s never pleasant thinking about your own death, but if you have spent many years working on your family history you should make arrangements for what you want to happen with it after you die. If you don’t, then it will probably get thrown out – and that’s not a pleasant thought either. Even if your family knows you have been researching your family history and knows that you won’t want it destroyed, they will need specific instructions from you.

extract from an old handwritten will

The first problem is that your family or executors will not recognise all the bits that make up your family history. Your folders and papers may be obvious, but would they know that you had family trees online in four different places? Would they recognise the research books, copies of certificates, maps, photos and so on that you collected? Would they know that you used family history software, kept images on your ipad, and had your DNA tested and uploaded to three different sites? Or know that you had drafts of books and articles you were writing?

Inventory

No? Then your first task is to prepare an inventory of all the bits that make up your family history. And don’t forget to include website addresses and passwords.

While you are making your inventory, it’s probably a good idea to organise your materials a bit better. Use a system that a non-genealogist would not have too much trouble understanding. And labelling – lots of labelling! That includes papers and folders, but also folders on your computer. And how about making a folder labelled ‘Save my family history. Read this for instructions’?

Overview

Next, prepare an overview of your family history so that anyone who is handling it later will have a better idea of how everything relates to different family members. This will help them understand the labels you put on the folders, books and other items. Print out a family tree chart and a report from your family history software (if you use it). Put them in the ‘Save my family history’ folder. Don’t forget to find a safe and obvious spot for the folder, so someone will find it. Even better – leave it with the person who is the executor of your will.

Who are you going to give it to?

Now you need to decide where you want your family history to go. Is there someone in the family who will accept it? If not, then investigate repositories who might accept family history research, such as your local library or family history society. Or, if you are in Australia, then you should consider donating it to the Society of Australian Genealogists. After you make your decision and check that they will accept your family history, include instructions in your will. If you are donating to a repository, you should also consider including a financial donation, to help cover the costs of caring for your family history.

manila folders of papers on a shelf

Check subscriptions

The final task is to check that any subscription or paid services associated with your family history are also assigned. The rules of inheritance differ with each one, so you will need to check each one. With some, you may be able to include information in your will but others may have a section on the website that you have to fill in.

For more of my articles about organising your family history, go to the Organise page.

Post last updated 5 June 2024